The Lackluster Letters 4

Written 3.23.2021

Subject: Regulations and Guidelines on "for-profit" colleges

To: tech_help@bbb.org

Dear Better Business Bureau,

I had a quick question about the current guidelines on "for-profit" colleges.  I am not referencing any specific institution more-so an academic model becoming more and more prevalent in institutions of higher-learning especially as we delve into our digital future.  Would it be illegal for me as a potential business owner in the academic realm, taking into consideration the highest regard for education as integral to the growth of not only us as individuals, but us as a nation, to collect tuition fees but than outsource the "grunt" work of the academic system known as "teaching" to third-party platforms than pocketing the overhead. Remember when Congressman Ron Paul tried to introduce a bill which disbanded the Department of Education hmmm... possibly because they felt that by outsourcing the k-12 education system to "3rd parties" with certain ties to "corporate entities" (for illegal data collection, identification, and monitoring purposes) who may or may not have the youth of America or the future of American generations best interest in mind only to save the government money... hmm.. but I digress...

To me the legality of this is thrown even more into question when the source educational materials are being utilized from "free" platforms.  Are there any obligatory regulations for institutions utilizing this type of model which requires them to inform these "free" platforms (e.g. websites with educational videos or content which fits their curriculum) of their use in their "for-profit" model or is profiteering from "free" platforms legal and ethical in this generation? (or is the trade off of data collected from the students and the generation of traffic to websites?) With this in mind, I re-iterate my initial question, are there any guidelines currently set-forth on "for-profit" colleges.  If not, can I get a business loan to set-up an academic ponzi scheme variant???

~Lacklust3r